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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hanalei Farmers Market

With a day of rest behind us and our anniversary upon us, we looked forward to a family day together. (You just can't have too many of those.) But with no plans certain, and still a bit worn out from all the activity, we had a slow start to the day. Mr. B took a walk down to Moloa'a Beach in the early morning hours while the girls and I slept in a bit. After breakfast, E and I headed down to the beach while Mr. B took a morning siesta and V worked on a story she's been writing for a few days now ("The Island").

It was a GORGEOUS morning at the bay! E and I hadn't really planned to snorkel, so left all the goggles, masks, snorkels and such in the shack. We found the bay nearly deserted, the water warm and clear and fish EVERYwhere! After floating around a bit, we opted to walk along the bay's southern shore to the point. We navigated our way across some enormous, black boulders for about 20 minutes until we could see down the coast, then we returned along the shore, taking time to check out various schools of fish along the reef which abuts the south shore. We saw dozens of Nunu Peke (Coronet Fish), convict tangs and countless fish we couldn't identify. We found infant fish in the tidepools and played with coconuts and kukui nuts, shells and rocks along the way until it was time to return to The Shack to rejoin the family.

Water company workers were fiddling with the main under the street just outside the house as we headed north to Hanalei for farmers' market. What a very cool way to spend the afternoon. We saw fruits we'd never experienced before including Jack fruit, atemoya (sugar apple x cherimoya), longan and fresh coco beans as well as star fruit, papaya, mango, apple bananas, white pineapple, fresh pineapple, tea and, of course, coconut. The very cool thing about the coconut was that the seller first opened the coconut just a smidge so we could enjoy the coconut water (clear water, sort of bubbly, definitely coconut flavored for a sort of "coconut soda" sensation), then hacked it open with a machete and used a tool not much different from an ice cream scoop to free the fresh coconut meat for us to enjoy. (Another cool thing about the machete-wielding coconut woman was that she's our neighbor at The Shack - I feel safer knowing she's one of our rural neighbors.) I could easily have spent a couple of hours here just enjoying the music, people watching and tasting and enjoying the tropical treats. But I was just one in the crowd, and the rest of our crowd was quickly ready to move on.

We found our way to Princeville Bali Hai where Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Doug are staying, and it wasn't long before the girls and I were in the pool playing with the waterfall, the sand-bottom shallow end, and the decorative tiles that included mermaid, dolphins and sea turtles. Then it was dinner at the condo before we returned to The Shack to discover we had no running water. Good thing the girls and I got in a swim after our dips in the ocean and sand today. Poor Mr. B. Man can't even get a shower on his anniversary...